


Zip It (Adults are Talking)

by devilrin



Series: that swanky new car smell [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Drama, Jungkook is spiderman, M/M, Marvel Universe, One Shot Collection, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Romance, Taekook Week, bts as avengers, iron joon, iron tae, mj chim, ned hobi, pepper jin, yoongi osborn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2020-07-30 10:27:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20095777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilrin/pseuds/devilrin
Summary: Taehyung loves his Sticky Bug-Boy and Jeongguk is trying very, very hard to get the Invincible Iron Lad (and the love of his life) to address him by another nickname.





	1. Contents Page

**Author's Note:**

> \- companion piece to [Could've Stuck (The Landing)!!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977041/chapters/45059521)  
\- i don't rly have a lot of things written out so the first chapter will be subject to a lot of changes, i wanted to post this up to have a link for you guys to refer to/subscribe to  
\- ...i don't want to say that i have a sequel planned (the original fic i based Landing off of is part of a trilogy but I am not personally a fan of the storyline of the second fic, and i'm very satisfied with Landing so i don't rly want to ruin it with a sequel but if i ever get hit in the feels and want to write my own version of the sequel i'll let you guys know :D)  
\- ALSO if anyone wants to do anything (trailer/fanart/poster/other fics) related to this fic lmk i'll link it here as well :D

!! companion piece to [Could've Stuck (The Landing) !!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977041/chapters/45059521)

current plans (i will not be writing these scenes in order!! will come back and strike out whatever i'm done with) if anyone wants more scenes do feel free to comment either here or on Landing :D 

1\. Pre-Snap 

  * Taekook dynamics/fight scenes as hot-headed teenagers just starting out in crime-fighting
  * How Taekook found out about Jeongguk's sensory overload and their little morse-code tapping 
  * Iron!Joon + his two sons 
  * Namjin proposal 

2\. Post-Snap, pre-Landing 

  * The story of how Taehyung lost Jeongguk twice 

3\. Landing Bonus/deleted scenes

  * <strike>Jikook actually getting together</strike> (i wrote this scene when i was writing Landing but i didn't want to include it cuz i felt that it would disrupt the flow + i wasn't satisfied with it so i'll just dump it here since a lot of people wanted to see it) 
  * Some platonic Yoonmin fluff because I was mean to them 
  * Taekook closet kiss in Prague’s S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters

4\. Post-Landing 

  * Yoonmin's mini spin-off featuring osborn!Yoongles
  * <strike>Taekook swinging around the city but Tae is scared of heights</strike> (epilogue of Landing, chapter 25)


	2. Someone could love you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jimin and Jeongguk have a heart-to-heart, and Jeongguk proposes to do what Taehyung encouraged. 
> 
> (Landing bonus: How Jikook got together)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- school is overwhelming as fuck and i'm still a smol lonely bean WITH NO FRIENDS (uni can get pretty damn lonely) so  
\- UNEXPECTED UPDATE :D  
\- chapter divided into 2 parts, part 1 before the line break is jk's pov from chapters 3-4, and part 2 after the line break is chapter 7, after jeongguk gets back from the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, the night before he and jimin announced their relationship  
\- this was the most requested + it made the most people salty in Landing so i figured i'd start with this first  
\- title from Troye Sivan's Lost Boy

Taehyung is conversing with someone, possibly Jiwon, Jeongguk guesses, from the way his lilting, honeyed voice rises and falls with alternated indignation and amusement. He’s throwing a stress ball to the floor, watching as it bounces off the carpet, then the wall, then the ceiling, and back to his hand. There is the soft sound of typing-- while soothing, it just doesn’t have the same calming effect that Taehyung’s heartbeat had. Sue him-- he’s finally managed to hear the heartbeat in so long, the little cafe “date” they had that afternoon hardly seems enough to make up for the absence. 

Jeongguk shuffles his position a little, ceasing his movements. The stress ball dangles in his fist, and he eyes the door unhappily. Maybe he should go over and see if Taehyung’s doing okay?  _ But then again, why wouldn’t he be doing okay?  _ Jeongguk lets out an aggravated sigh and resumes with the stress ball, the sounds harder now than before. 

The typing on the computer ceases, and Jimin looks up from his essay. “Jeongguk?” He says. “Are you okay?” 

“Fine,” He grunts, short. He sighs, listens out for the heartbeat again, and hears its muffled thumps across the door-- it frustrates him to no end, not knowing what the older is thinking, feeling a gaping chasm of five whole years and death itself between them. 

“Something happened on your trip to the cafe?” Jimin prompts, gentle. Jeongguk doesn’t want to look at his friend-- He had been mulling over Taehyung’s words for a very, very long time, and he doesn’t know what he should do. What exactly had Taehyung been implying? Was he trying to say that he likes Bogum, and that Jeongguk should take his chances and act on his (long ago) crush on Jimin so that Taehyung could pursue his  _ own _ love without any restrictions? Was he trying to tell Jeongguk that he’d moved on, that he’d never really liked Jeongguk that much in the first place? That  _ Jimin _ should take the place that he used to, best friend, comrade-in-arms? 

That thought makes his mouth sour. 

“Do you think he blames me?” Jeongguk wonders, aloud. Jimin blinks at him. “No, Taehyung  _ doesn’t _ blame you,” He admonishes, slowly, letting the words sink in. “Iron Man’s death was not your fault.” 

Jeongguk flinches, hard. 

“Tell me what he said to get you so rattled up,” Jimin suggests. “Maybe we could work things out from there.” 

“He told me,” Jeongguk swallows the lump around his throat. Should he say it, or not? 

The dull thump of two heartbeats next door, the calm buzz of Jimin’s heart, and his own-- blood rushing past his ears and trying in vain to seek out the one that he’s more familiar with-- he thinks he finds it, and he purses his lips, trying to summon the courage to say the words. If this didn’t go well, he thinks, Jimin and him would be  _ over _ as friends. If it did, then he’d have to bid goodbye to something  _ else _ , something in his chest that is foreign and painful and he doesn’t like it one bit. 

“What?” Jimin is leaning closer, comforting hand on his shoulder. “Tell me.” 

“He told me that we should date,” Jeongguk croaks out. 

Jimin withdraws his hand like he’s been stung. 

“W-what?” 

“And I told him that it’s different, you know,” Jeongguk rushes out. “Not that I don’t want to date you, I mean, I had a crush on you, but…” 

“It’s okay,” Jimin sits himself down on the floor slowly, head at Jeongguk’s near, peering up at him with large, earnest eyes. “You don’t have to say anything. Just let me… Just let me think about it, alright?” 

Jeongguk nods miserably. They sit in silence for a while, Jimin’s hand absent-mindedly tracing shapes into Jeongguk’s kneecap. The solitude that Jeongguk felt since walking into the room suddenly feels suffocating, and he counts his own breaths as Jimin mulls it over.

Ultimately, his friend takes a deep breath, so deep that Jeongguk imagines his lungs rattling inside his ribcage. “And  _ you _ ?” Jimin is saying. “What do  _ you _ think?” 

“I… I don’t know,” Jeongguk confesses, feeling his panic, hopelessness building inside him like a storm. “I  _ can’t _ know, Jimin, I’ve been back for six months and he’s lived for five entire fucking years without me and--”

“Sh,” Jimin lets out a soothing croon and pats at his knee, slightly more forcefully-- Jeongguk feels his small hand there and suddenly craves the soothing back-rubs Taehyung gives him when he’s feeling nervous and lost. Would Taehyung still do it to him now? Or would his hands grasp at nothing because the canyon between them is too wide? Jeongguk could only hold onto his faith and pull as hard as he can. “Did  _ you _ tell  _ him _ anything?” 

“I said, me and you are friends,” Jeongguk mumbles. “I said that we’re friends like him and Bogum, and we didn’t have to date. But he also said that ‘if it happens, it happens’ between Bogum and him, so…” A hopeless whimper is bubbling up in Jeongguk’s throat. “What do I do?” 

“Well, friends do transition onto dating partners pretty easily,” Jimin, ever logical and protective, pats his knee again. His words seem to have some form of double meaning, with the way he’s staring at Jeongguk. Jeongguk has a pretty guess what Jimin is implying-- it isn’t out of the norm for him and Jimin to take the next step, nor is it strange for Taehyung and Bogum. And yet, why does he feel such an ache in his chest when he thinks about it? “You sound like you’re pretty sure him and Bogum would date.” 

Jeongguk doesn’t reply. 

“Are you sure it isn’t jealousy talking, Jeon Jeongguk?” 

“See, I don’t know,” Jeongguk’s voice is haunted. “I’ve been away from him for so long that I don’t think I know anything anymore.” 

“What do you propose to do about this situation, then?” Jimin’s hand squeezes at his kneecap, some constant pressure giving Jeongguk a semblance of normalcy among all this madness-- Jimin had squeezed his kneecap like this back when he was sleeping over right after the events of the Snap-- when neither of them had been willing to go to sleep alone. 

“I feel like since _he_ suggested it,” Jeongguk’s voice taste bitter inside his mouth. “We could… we could try it.” He looks up, dubiously at Jimin, whose expression remains neutral and expectant. “Jimin, I… I can’t thank you enough for being there for me for the past few months.” 

“You don’t have to,” Jimin says, brisk. “I don’t have to be your boyfriend to keep looking out for you in this way.” His eyes flit over to Jeongguk’s, slightly guilty. “I care for you, as you care for me. But is it enough to warrant a relationship?”

“I mean… Jimin.” Jeongguk’s voice is low, and Jimin hears his cry for help. “I don’t know. He told me to try. What if--” Jeongguk breaks off.  _ What if I’ve misinterpreted our friendship all along? What if we can never go back to the way it used to be?  _ He doesn’t know what his expression looks like to Jimin right now. Hurt? Broken? In need of  _ something _ ? 

A small voice (not Dylan’s, definitely not) tells him that it’s more likely he needs  _ someone _ , but that someone doesn’t seem interested in giving him what he needs right now. So he swallows the thought like a bitter pill, and turns back to Jimin. 

“You know, there’s no use worrying about such things now,” Jimin says, pacifying. “But do  _ you _ want to try?” 

“We  _ did _ used to have a crush on each other during high school. We can think of it as closure, in a way,” Jeongguk sighs. “And this is  _ trying _ things out, right? We’d break it off the moment one of us thinks anything is not going well.” 

Jimin nods. “Right, then it’s settled,” His eyes turn to the ground, not the most willing, but still kind and understanding as always. “We can think through the details tomorrow— if we should continue, when we should tell him, things like that. You should go to sleep, Jeongguk, it’s going to be 3am in the morning.” 

“I don’t want to,” Jeongguk mutters. He can’t believe what he’s just asked of his friend, and he doesn’t want to face any of its consequences. Jimin’s hand ceases its movements and Jeongguk watches, eyes slightly unfocused, as he presses a bottle of water into his limp hands. “Here.” 

Jeongguk takes a sip. The door adjacent to his opens, and shuts gently. The familiar sound of  _ thump-thump-thump _ is making its way down the hall, and his eyes shoot up to meet Jimin’s. “He’s gone out of his room,” Jimin breathes, getting to his feet and looking down the hallway. “Jeongguk, go after him.” 

“What?” Jeongguk’s head is still spinning from the myriad of information that he’s just processed. “ _ No _ , he probably doesn’t even want to see me--”

“Kook,” Jimin almost growls. “You need to give me some space, okay, thank you very much for dropping that bomb on me.  _ And _ you sound like you have a lot of emotional baggage with Taehyung which, as far as I’m concerned, you guys should work on fixing. Not trying out a relationship with someone he’d suggested you to try it with.” A brief flash of indignation in Jimin’s eyes, and Jeongguk has heard it loud and clear. Jimin isn’t incapable of tough love, and if that tough love is the only thing that could get Jeongguk to move his ass and take the first great leap towards Kim Taehyung, then Jimin would do it in a heartbeat. “If you don’t go out in the next five minutes, I’m kicking you out after Taehyung myself.”

* * *

Returning from the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, Jeongguk feels like the Earth has been swept out from under him-- this mission marks the first time since he was initiated into the Avengers that he’s working alone. Collapsing into his room, the first thing he does is to collapse right beside his bed. Hoseok, who’s taking his bed to keep Jimin company, startles awake. “You’re back?” 

“Yup,” Jeongguk rubs at his tired eyes, yawning despite himself. He’s had a long day, full of emotional roller-coasters, and he really just wants to lie in bed and disappear for a while. Hoseok doesn’t ask any needless questions, and gets to his feet. Jimin, too, wakes up with a start, eyes flitting around before landing on Jeongguk. “I’ll be going,” Hoseok bids him goodbye, and returns to his own room across the hall. Jeongguk’s ears prick as the door opens and he’s greeted with the familiar thumping sound of Taehyung’s heart, then the door shuts and he feels himself droop. 

“Jeongguk?” Jimin whispers, reaching out a hand. It doesn’t quite touch him. 

“I just… I don’t know. I feel so detached from Taehyung it’s crazy,” Jeongguk is looking for anything to put his eyes on. Anything but Jimin’s loving, compassionate eyes. “Just now… I wanted to do the mission with him. He’s grieving for the past six months, but he’s also juggling all the Avengers’ missions and taking over Iron Man’s mantel. I just thought that I could help him, you know? I thought he didn’t want the mission because he thought I wasn’t ready,” Jeongguk recalls the way Taehyung had grabbed his shoulders and shook him, telling him that he didn’t have to do it if he didn’t have to do it. Taehyung was no doubt thinking about his panic attack earlier, in the café. “I thought he’d take on the mission with me if I accepted, and we’d save the world again, just like the old times.”

“Jeongguk,” Jimin reprimands softly, reaching out to rub his shoulders. “Jeongguk, you guys were kids back then. Before the Snap. You guys patrolled the city. Iron Man didn’t let you do any of that stuff.”

“But he would expect us to,” Jeongguk lets a tear fall and he rubs at it, hard, almost child-like in his demeanour. “He’s gone, and no one else can step up but us. The adults have their own problems to deal with, Black Widow is dealing with the Sand Elemental and the rest are taking a break.”

“You don’t have to prove that you’re okay to him, Jeongguk, he knows you and he’s trying to look out for you.”

“I just don’t want him to feel like I’m a burden,” Jeongguk covers his face in his palms. “He’s been dealing with his father’s death and still running the Avengers from the Compound. I’m here living my life and enjoying myself and I can’t help but feel like Namjoon’s death was on me. I want him to see that I’m okay, and I want him to be able to share the responsibility with me.”

“He will, Gguk,” Jimin consoles him, drawing him into a loose hug. “Taehyung is struggling, too. Look at him, he’s still haunted by the events. It’s too soon after the battles to be blaming yourself for not moving on. We’re all suffering.” He draws back, petting the younger’s soft hair. “And we’re all picking up the pieces together.”

Jeongguk whines, deep in his throat.

“And we’ll all be with you, every step of the way. Me, Hoseok, Taehyung. None of us will ever think of leaving you.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Jimin promises. “Now, go to sleep, we can talk more in the morning.”

“What if he’s angry at me?” Jeongguk whispers. “For taking on the mission? For misreading his concern?”

“He won’t be,” Jimin tucks the taller boy into his blankets, and perches himself on the side of the bed. He is still in pyjamas, hair wild from where he’s been woken up by Jeongguk’s entrance, and he’s rubbing at one eye sleepily. Jeongguk feels guilty for a bit, then Jimin wordlessly picks up his hand and runs his thumb over his knuckles. “No one is. Your feelings are perfectly valid, Jeongguk.”

“Thanks, Chim,” Jeongguk mumbles, sleep beginning to overtake him. He’s too tired after the events of the previous day: first the Earth Elemental, then the…

“Jimin, have you thought about what I asked you yesterday?”

Jimin pats Jeongguk’s cheek. “We can talk when you’re more lucid. But Taehyung needs to know, Jeongguk. He has a right to.”

"He wouldn't mind," Jeongguk slurs. He doesn't really know what he's talking about at this point-- he feels like a petulant child, and Taehyung is a very detached, very absent friend. If he were a child, Taehyung wouldn't be his friend anymore, he thinks, spitefully. Then he stops himself, suddenly sad. He wouldn't want that. _He needs Taehyung_. 

"Jeongguk, you said we'd try it because _he_ suggested it. Because he, according to you, knows you the best, and thinks this will benefit you," Jimin coaxes. "It's only right." 

"Mm," Jeongguk turns over, too tired to argue. And in minutes, sleep overtakes him, and he's sucked into that tight, bottomless nothingness of a dreamless sleep.

~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- i had this written out when i was writing Landing, and when i went back to clean up the document i just couldn't??? write??? more???  
\- i wanted to stick with my whole 'crossing-the-line-between-platonic-and-romantic-love' thing and jikook dancing around it, but i also don't feel like i have the skills to fully write it without making anyone mad (god we alr went through that in Landing and i don't want to go through that again)  
\- PLUS it was implied that jimin always sorta had a thing for yoongi so i figured to some extent it would make sense for him to only agree with jeongguk when he mentioned 'closure'  
\- this was kept pretty much the same as how i wrote it back when i wrote Landing (i cut these scenes out of the final edition i uploaded) so yes it's kind of like the most original plan???  
\- but tbh it's anyone's guess what happened that night, if you're all for a more romantic version, you're welcome to disregard this version. this is just my perspective of what could've happened and if your interpretation of jikook's getting together didn't go something like this, you're welcome to shout at me in the comments below!! just no hate plox HAHA


	3. Picture, picture, smile for the picture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taehyung's mother pays a visit to the Compound after twenty or so years. Jeongguk is angry, and rightfully so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rises from the dead and the finals grind to gift y'all with a seven-page chapter off the top of my head

It’s been a little while since everything had happened—Jeongguk is stopping by at the Compound to drop something off before heading home (lies, he literally just wanted to kiss his boyfriend because he hadn’t done it in a week). Finals is approaching, and Taehyung and him had stopped all extra-curriculums and he _really_ needs his GPA to move up. Jeongguk isn’t a bad student, he just doesn’t understand business (and had allowed Taehyung to bully him into taking a business elective with him), so he’s really at his wit’s end.

Of course, Taehyung comes first.

He’s humming a little tune to himself when his eyes pick up an unfamiliar car in the driveway. Slowing down, he pauses in his footsteps, eyebrows starting to knit together in a frown. He doesn’t recognize the car—and he knows every single car that passes around this building. He may not live here all year round, but he _is_ an Avenger, and he recognizes his own.

So, whose car is this?

As if to answer his question, a lady steps out of the car, pristine heels clicking against the asphalt. Jeongguk isn’t sure if he’s supposed to intercept—she could be one of Seokjin’s clients (although his spidey-sense is screaming at him, and his brain is starting to catch up on the illogical parts of that argument: Seokjin _never_ meets clients at the Compound, this is a base for the Avengers and largely off-limits for the corporate world unless invited). His feet move forward, almost unconsciously, and Jeongguk does a double-take as a female face, almost eye-strikingly familiar, gaze upon him with polite surprise and a little bit of hesitation.

“What do you want?” Jeongguk’s voice is deeper than usual. The woman in front of him is biting at her lower lip, something Jeongguk has seen Taehyung do several times in the past, rather unconsciously. He’d always thought that it was a trait that Taehyung picked up from Namjoon, who likes to chew his bottom lip raw when things don’t go his way. Not _this_ woman, though.

“Your name is… Jungoo?” The woman asks. She makes her way over to him, secure on her heels. Her tone is uncertain, and Jeongguk has a hand clenched into a fist behind his back. _Calm_, he thinks. He isn’t going to blow up right now. Not when Taehyung is in the building behind him and he is the only line of defence his boyfriend has against this woman.

“It’s _Jeongguk_.” Jeongguk hisses. “And do you have an appointment with Seokjin?”

“Seokjin?” The woman’s brows furrow. Her brows are outlined to perfection (hashtag on fleek, Jeongguk’s Gen Z mind supplies helpfully), almost painted on with severity and arched, just like Taehyung’s own distinct, strong brows. Jeongguk knows that Namjoon’s brows are on the milder side, less intense and it gives the male a softer, warmer look. Of course, until Namjoon decides that he wants to be menacing. Then his brows tilt into the familiar arch that Taehyung’s seem to always characteristically be in. “I’m Taehyung’s mother, why would I need an appointment with Seokjin?”

“Maybe because you haven’t seen him for more than two decades?” There is venom in Jeongguk’s mouth, and if he could, he’d spit it at the older woman. The _woman_, who doesn’t even deserve a name. “Seokjin was more his mother than you _ever_ were.”

“I know!” The woman looks less sure of herself—she steps forth into the light and Jeongguk watches as a little bit of her hair unravels from her tight bun at the movement. Her features are sharp, feline, and for a moment, Jeongguk sees that she might have been attractive once upon a time. And in his mind’s eye, he compares his lovely boyfriend’s features to hers, and he sees it. Taehyung is biologically this woman’s son: his features a near carbon copy. And perhaps that had been why this female is staking her claim now, when Taehyung is a legal adult and far from the legal boundaries that should be imposed on him. Taehyung is _her _son, and his face tells the entire story. “But I saw the Europe trip, and there was some speculation about Taehyung’s health, and…”

“That was months ago, ma’am,” Jeongguk inhales, then lets it out slowly, still seething. He hates how he sees this person in Taehyung, hates how Taehyung has to stare into the mirror every day when he was a younger child and see a mother who has abandoned him. “You have no right to be here.”

“I’m his _mother_.”

“Blood means shit,” Jeongguk snarls. “I’d be the expert on that.”[1]

As the woman’s eyes squint a little, betraying her inner-panic (Jeongguk knows he could look imposing if he really wants to), Jeongguk feels a small stab of guilt. That isn’t any way to talk to an older person, but he’s honestly quite sick of the fact that this woman thinks it’s okay to just walk right up to the Compound after everything and pretend that she’s trying to make amends. She’d thrusted Taehyung out of her life as a newborn and withdrawn all forms of contact—Taehyung and Namjoon have _hated_ her for the longest time—Jeongguk can’t even fathom which part of her thinks that it’s okay to waltz back in like this.

“You’re his boyfriend,” The woman begins, blinking. “Right?”

“None of your concern,” Jeongguk’s hands are balled up into noticeable fists. “Listen, I know you came on good standing. You came to check up on your son.” He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. It works, somewhat. “But you need to know that he _isn’t_ your son. He’s with the people he loves the most in the world and you’re not part of that.”

“I… I felt like it was the right time,” She offers.

“No,” Jeongguk growls. “Leave, before I call security on you.”

~

“Someone looks bright and happy!” Taehyung teases, and Jeongguk plonks himself onto the couch, earlier bright grin gone. He was very satisfied with himself earlier, sure, but now, he’s not so sure. He doesn’t know if turning the woman away had been the best plan of action—her distraught face seems hauntingly familiar to Taehyung’s and for a moment, he flounders. “Come on, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Jeongguk says, distracted. “Can you keep talking?”

Taehyung studies him for a minute, then complies, launching into a lecture about the most recent suit that he’s been developing for himself, the cool weapons it’s going to feature, and how proud Namjoon would’ve been of the two of them if he saw Jeongguk and Taehyung working on it together. The four words are code by now for ‘I don’t want to talk about it now but I will talk about it when I’m ready’ and Taehyung has been doing a vastly good job at reading Jeongguk. They’ve slipped back into such a simple and easy rhythm that Jeongguk wonders how they even let themselves fall into such a state of disarray in the first place—all of This, Right Now seems simpler than breathing.

“Anyway, Jimin and Yoongi asked if we wanted to go and check out the barbeque place tonight,” Taehyung updates. “What do you say? One last hurrah before finals?”

Jeongguk shakes himself out of his thoughts. “I’m supposed to be studying,” He pouts, pushing all thoughts of the woman out of his head, focusing on the lapful of Taehyung he has right now. His boyfriend reaches up to thumb at his ear playfully, and he growls, shaking it gently out of his grip. “That tickles.”

Taehyung grins, a big, shit-eating grin. “Come on, you know you’ve got that one in the bag.”

“One night,” Jeongguk doesn’t even bother fighting—he’s way to smitten. “Just this _one_ meal.”

“Sure, Ggukie,” Taehyung sings. Then he grows serious, sitting up. “I can send you my notes if you want, I got Seokjin’s help for the essay and I used some business reports that he kept for reference. You can look through them if you want.”

“That would be great,” Jeongguk lets go of a breath that he doesn’t know he’s been holding. “Statistics for the report is something that I was struggling with.”

“Yea, I’m the best, I know,” Taehyung says, lips twitching into a smug smile. “But, hey,” He searches for something in Jeongguk’s eyes, raking past all the barriers with a single blink. “That wasn’t what you’re upset about.”

“No, no it isn’t,” Jeongguk agrees. Then, pushing himself off the side of the couch, he pulls Taehyung off of him, in a position that he remembers fondly from their Europe trip. Cross-legged, knees touching, and Taehyung is leaning on his own knees, hands coming up to smush at his cheek. He is gazing at Jeongguk intently, one eye almost shut because his hand is supporting his face from there, and he looks so _soft _and _cute_ and _cuddly_ and—

“Tiger cub,” Jeongguk blurts. “You look like a tiger cub.”

“That was also not what was bothering you,” Taehyung replies, without missing a beat. “But we should probably talk about it now before we get carried away and meet Yoonmin at the barbeque place.”

“What’s a Yoonmin?”

“What’s a Taeguk?[2]” Taehyung shoots back, reaching for his phone. Jeongguk’s brows furrow. “Thailand?”

Taehyung snorts, loud. “I told Minmin we’ll be late. Use that Spidey-brain of yours, Guk.”

“_Oh_,” Jeongguk blinks. “Is it the thing where you put names of couples together… _Ooh_.”

“We’re a Taeguk,” Taehyung nods. “It’s a cute phrase.”

“Mm,” Jeongguk turns the word over in his mind. “It is.”

“Now that you’re sufficiently distracted,” Taehyung prods him gently, letting the hand smushing his face come down to caress Jeongguk’s knee gently. “What’s really bothering you?”

Jeongguk pauses.

Then, he opens his mouth. “I’m a horrible person.”

“Baby, we’ve talked about this. You—”

“No, this isn’t about me being a mess or a chaotic crackhead or a—”

“Guk, you aren’t a mess, or a…”

“I met your mom just now and I turned her away,” Jeongguk says in one breath. He shuts his eyes, flinches backwards, and waits for his boyfriend to flip.

There’s a beat of silence. Maybe two.

Hands come up, long, slender fingers, travel to his, and pries his hands off his face. “What?”

“I…” Jeongguk is still in flight mode, one foot on the couch and the other on the floor, ready to spring if necessary. “I met your mother.”

“Mother as in…” Taehyung tilts his head to the side. “My… Uh.”

“Yea.”

They wait together, for some sort of sign. When none came, Jeongguk steels himself. “And I told her you aren’t hers. That it’s no use coming here.”

“Did she say _why_ she wants to come here?”

“She said she saw the news and she was worried,” Jeongguk recalls, a strange lump in her throat. “I—I’m sorry, Tae, I don’t know what I was thinking, I should’ve called you or Seokjin or…”

“Guk,” Taehyung squeezes his hands. Jeongguk recognizes belatedly that even though half his body is already hanging off the sofa, his hands are still caught securely, gently between Taehyung’s. “I’m not mad.”

“I’m sorry,” Jeongguk says again, for good measure. Taehyung stifles a laugh, and bops him on the nose gently. “I’m surprised, definitely, but not mad. You _know_ how I feel about her ditching me and Dad so many years ago—she’s never looked back and there’s no reason for her to look back now.”

“I shouldn’t have sent her away,” Jeongguk says, voice small.

“That, _maybe_ you shouldn’t have,” Taehyung nods. "Calling Seokjin would've been the best thing to do. Technically." Jeongguk deflates, curling into a ball. “I’m sorry,” He says, again. He hopes Taehyung knows he really means it.

“But I would’ve done the same thing,” Taehyung soothes. “Listen, Guk, I’m an adult now. If she really wanted to find me, she would’ve called or texted—she could’ve easily found my number or my email. I wouldn’t have rejected it. To come here unannounced meant that she wanted to see me and she wouldn’t have taken ‘no’ for an answer. You did the right thing by sending her away,” Taehyung pauses. “She should’ve had the etiquette to at least call ahead to make an appointment. But she didn’t.”

“Oh,” Jeongguk blinks. Why hadn’t he thought of that?

“Showing up unannounced was not very polite, maybe she did it out of some impulse before she lost her nerve,” Taehyung leans back, something unreadable crossing his eyes. “She had the chance to do that for more than twenty years.” Tilting his head to the side, he crosses his arms, suddenly pensive. “Strange. She gave birth to me but I don’t know her at all.”

“I’m sure she’s a good person,” Jeongguk offers, lamely. He doesn’t really know what to say—his own parents had passed away when he was very young, but he’s never been deprived of any sort of parental love growing up. He knew that his parents loved him, he knew that his uncle Ben loved him, he knows that Jieun would lay down her life for him and he knows that Namjoon and Seokjin have all but adopted him. He’s blessed, Jeongguk thinks, the thought vague and unconscious. Taehyung, on the other hand…

“Nah,” Taehyung shrugs. “Some people are just… They don’t love the same way we do. They love their careers more than their own family, and they feel regret for a family they never had, probably, but…” He shakes his head. “I can’t fault her for it, I guess.”

Jeongguk studies the shadows across Taehyung’s face. Taehyung is quiet, running some things through his mind, and Jeongguk comes closer, squeezing the hand in his. “Do you still hate her?” He ventures. A younger Taehyung, the Taehyung he first met back when they were still teenagers, had hated her with his entire soul.

“Funny enough, I don’t,” Taehyung smushes his face against his hand again, staring at him. “She hurt me, sure. I thought she didn’t want me and Dad, sure. Made me wonder if I did something wrong, definitely, but Jin was there so often I wasn’t ever really lonely. Jin’s more of a mother than she ever was, and…” Taehyung shrugs again, playing with Jeongguk’s hands. “If I ever meet her, I guess it’s just going to be a meeting between two adults. Not a meeting between mother-and-son, if that makes sense. She _isn’t_ my mother.”

“It does,” Jeongguk nods, hard, so hard that he feels a crack at the base of his spine. “Completely.”

“You did nothing wrong by turning her away. She thought she could waltz into this place unannounced because she’s my mother. She doesn’t get to do that,” Taehyung pats Jeongguk gently. “_I’d_ have turned her away myself until she’d learned to visit the right way—announcing her presence.”

“Okay,” Jeongguk says, suddenly lighter than before. Taehyung is making an awful lot of sense, and maybe his own spidey sense had picked up on these emotions when he’d faced the woman, earlier. “Okay, we—”

“Ah, look, Yoongi said he’s already picked Jimin up. We should get going before it’s too late,” Taehyung’s phone lights up. “Jeonggukie, thank you.”

“Wha?” Jeongguk blinks, slightly flabbergasted. “What? No. Why?”

“For protecting me,” Taehyung takes a step closer, brushing a kiss to his brow, before dancing backwards. “For being honest,” A flick on his ear. “For everything.”

Jeongguk’s poor heart feels like it’s going to pop right out of his chest.

~

Notes: 

[1] Jieun, Seokjin, Namjoon are all not blood-related to Jeongguk, but they are all parental figures to him. (Jieun – Aunt May, Seokjin – Pepper, Namjoon – Iron Man)

[2] Correct me if I’m wrong but if you take the ‘tae’ and ‘guk’ from their Korean names it literally translates to Thailand (pls excuse my limited Korean knowledge)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- tae's mother was never abusive, she was just absent  
\- tae basically feels like he's fine with his mother if she ever wants to visit, but he doesn't feel like her child and he isn't obliged to feel that way: namjin raised him and if his mother wants to visit him he's totes fine but he also doesn't appreciate the way she did it, by showing up unannounced and forcing her presence on him is symbolic of the idea that she still feels like she has some claim over him as his mother  
\- guk knew this and straight out went like 'no'  
\- tae technically didn't need protection but he's going to enjoy his bb's protection cuz why not amirite in this house we love protective boyfriends  
\- jk did the right thing (in tae's books at least)  
\- for everyone who's wondering about tae's backstory/who his mom was, here's the (long) drabble for you! in my head she's just some random woman who was married to her job and maybe mistakenly conceived with joon after they were both blackout drunk. joon prolly felt bad and offered to raise the child (again, he's not the tony stark playboy-ish character we see in the movies, i took some liberties with this fic) but she didn't want her career to be affected so she and joon compromised, joon would take the child after birth and she wouldn't see either of them ever again

**Author's Note:**

> \- Socials:  
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(mainly for writing updates!! do follow me if you've got a twitter :D it's so quiet over there and i want to share plot ideas/teasers/updates/inspirations with everyone :> )  
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